Sen. Lautenberg's filibuster reform doesn't go far enough: Editorial

Jimmy Stewart is shown in a scene from the 1939 film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."File photo

Sen. Frank Lautenberg wants to take another stab at making it harder for senators to kill bills with the maneuver known as the filibuster.

Filibustering is a tactic unique to the U.S. Senate that allows individual senators to block action on legislation they don’t like by keeping it from coming up for a vote. It’s just as undemocratic as it sounds.

Lautenberg isn’t suggesting the filibuster be eliminated. Rather, he wants to restore it to the quaint old-timey-ness portrayed in the 1939 film, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Movie buffs remember the title character, played by Jimmy Stewart, as he prattled on for close to 24 hours to block a vote on a dam in his district – enshrining the filibuster in pop culture.

Today’s filibuster, Lautenberg says, is an act of paperwork that requires none of the effort – but achieves all of the gridlock – of a more traditional “talking filibuster.”

Lautenberg’s bill -- which he introduced today, the third congressional session in a row he has done so -- restores some sanity to the Senate. But its flaw is that it still allows a minority of the Senate to block legislation – an affront to the American lawmaking principle of majority rule. Effectively, it means a bill requires 60 votes to pass, instead of a simple majority of 51.

“It has become all too common for Senators to block legislation and never explain why they are stopping business dead in its tracks,” Lautenberg said in a news release. “The Senate has become a deadlocked — not deliberative — body.”

Lautenberg expects the Senate to consider rules reforms, including his “Mr. Smith” rule, later this month.

With Democrats in control of the Senate, Republicans have used it in recent years, for instance, to remove the public option from President Obama’s health reform bill. Long ago, Southern Democrats used it to block civil rights reforms. But it’s become too easy. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has used the filibuster, all by himself, more often than it was used in the 1950s and ‘60s combined.

In a perfect world, the filibuster would be kicked to the history books. But Democrats are reluctant to get rid of the ploy, since the GOP is sure to take over someday and they’ll want to use it themselves. In January 2011, Democrats had a chance to kill the filibuster outright, but balked. Lautenberg, despite his support for keeping the old-fashioned filibuster, voted with those who wanted to end it. New Jersey's other U.S. Senator, Robert Menendez, did not. The measure failed.

So abuse of the arcane filibuster will continue to keep the Senate mired in its own rules. The upper house has become a place where legislation can be blocked by a minority of its members, violating a basic rule of democracy.

Lautenberg’s bill might be a satisfying step away from today’s status quo, in which a small number of senators can hold the Senate hostage. For real reform, though, set aside the black-and-white romance of “Mr. Smith” and put a stake through this silly rule, once and for all.